Rider University men's basketball team routs UMBC to snap home court skid

Peter Borg/Rider UniversityTommy Pereira came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers to jump-start Rider in the rout of UMBC.

LAWRENCE -- While mostly everyone on the Rider University men’s basketball team is trying to figure out their roles this season, it appears Tommy Pereira knows his.

Make 3-pointers.

The freshman guard came off the bench and ignited a Rider offense which got off to a sluggish start. Once he hit a three to give Rider its first lead nearly six minutes into the contest, the game was all but over.

The Broncs snapped a two-game home skid with an 81-39 shellacking of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in front of 1,608 at Alumni Gymnasium last night.

The 39 points allowed are the fewest allowed by Rider since it gave up 34 points to Bucknell during the 1981-1982 season.

“I like to shoot,” Pereira said with a wide smile.

Everyone who entered the game scored for Rider. Brandon Penn led the way with 13 points and five rebounds. Dera Nd-Ezuma, a sophomore center, looked nice with his moves in the post in garbage time with 12 points in 16 minutes.

“As soon as (head coach Tommy Dempsey) called my name, I was excited,” said Pereira who finished with nine points on 3-for-4 shooting with three boards.

“I was open. I was ready. I was blowing on my hands to get them warm. I just wanted to get out and play and show what I can do.”

The Broncs (6-4) did what teams that consider themselves “very good” do to winless squads. Rider served noticed to the Terriers (0-8) that their first win wasn’t coming here.

“Overall, I thought it was a good performance by our team,” Dempsey said. “I thought it was important, after not having played well at home the past couple of games, that we came out and established ourselves in our own gym. We talked about it the last couple of days. It was good to come out tonight and have a good performance.”

“I took the shots that the defense gave me,” Penn said. “I tried not to force anything. I just let the game come to me.”

The game was over at halftime with Rider commanding a 43-15 lead. Rider shot 64 percent from the floor (14-for-22) while UMBC hit at a 24 percent clip (6-for-25) and committed 13 turnovers. Pereira was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and jumpstarted the Rider offense.

“We were unselfish, and the ball moved,” Dempsey said. “It’s not about guys’ stats and guys’ numbers. It’s about winning. I thought Tommy gave us a big lift tonight.

“I haven’t played him as much lately, but he certainly has some opportunities ahead of him. I thought he practiced well (Tuesday). That is what triggered me going to him early. Sometimes these guys don’t understand. I am evaluating every practice. Because I felt he practiced well, I had it planned all day to get him some time. It was good to see him deliver.”

Rider went to a press in the first half which held UMBC scoreless for over 10 minutes.

“As a team, we came together and told ourselves that we have to make a run,” Robinson said. “We came out and started it with defense. We communicated and were talking. On their part, they weren’t making a lot of shots, but I will give a lot of credit to our defense. When they made mistakes, we just used that and made a lot of our baskets.”

* As noted, Nd-Ezuma looked like his is a star in the making with his sweet, effortless moves in the post. However, it was against a winless team and in garbage time. Dempsey was asked how he evaluates Nd-Ezuma’s performance.

“All you can do is take the minutes you get and do the best you can with them,” he said. “I thought that tonight he got an opportunity and got 16 minutes, and the guys were going to him inside. He made some nice post moves, and he was 5-for-6 from the field. I think he made four post moves with jump hooks (and fall-away jumpers). So how do I evaluate it?

“I guess I will say that all you can do as a player is take the minutes you get and put your best foot forward. To see him go out there and do some things ... we are going to need everybody. We only have 10 guys, and we are going to need them all. And I think going forward, he will have more opportunities. If he continues to play well in the minutes he gets, that’s how you get more time.”

NOTES: Rider earned its fifth win in a row in the series which it leads 8-4. The Terriers, a former East Coast Conference foe, haven’t defeated the Broncs since Feb. 1992 ... UMBC has three graduate students on its team ... Rider entered last night ranked 16th in the nation among mid-major programs according to collegeinsder.com. No other MAAC team is in the Top 25 ... Up next: Rider travels to Philadelphia Saturday to take on Drexel at 4 p.m.